We are in the thick of it. Sweltering, bright, let’s be honest— oppressive— Oklahoma heat. Summer has come and she has settled in over us with no plans to leave.

   Mornings are my favorite time of day in the summer. Things have cooled (slightly) in the night. This is when I do my impersonation of jogging, then check over the yard and the garden, watering, and seeing what’s ripened. This year it looks like we’ll have a real peach harvest! Audrey’s tree is heavy with fruit— Robbie’s tree, the baby tree, still has some growing to do.

   I’ll be honest, this time of year— July— is the hardest for me. I’ll be living in my imagination, curled up somewhere in the Berkshires or rambling through Tasha Tudor’s garden until the light is gentler. I suppose every place has its ‘bad time of year’ and for me, this is it for Oklahoma.

  Yet in photos, of course, it can be lovely. The flower beds are in full bloom— the black eyed susans have bloomed and my little garden helper was so nice and gentle with them– no picking! Just smelling.

  I also hung up the little woven basket I got in New England as well as the little Betsy Ross flag—when I saw that basket in a little roadside plant stand near Hoosick, NY I knew; it had to be mine. Every season….something new in the basket. Challenge: Accepted.

  Some exciting news around here is that we’ve become foster parents! Kitty foster parents, that is. We have joined a local organization that partners with our town animal shelter that fosters animals in private homes so they dont have to be in the shelter. Special needs, elderly, very young and pregnant animals are all the type of animals that are in desperate need of fostering since the shelter environment can be so bad for their health. Newborns, especially, can get very sick if kept in the shelter too long.

   And so, we have taken in our first foster— a tortoise color female kitty who is very very pregnant. She lives in the art studio, where she puts her big belly on the cool wood floor and she likes to sit under my chair or on my art desk while I paint. Perhaps she’s just exhausted, haha, but she is such a well mannered and loving cat. We have named her Lucy Maud (after that Lucy Maud) and each morning Audrey rushes over to check to see if the kittens have come.

  Other than our morning stirrings, we are usually inside. It’s just too hot to be out and about when its 110 outside. No wonder I dream of a summer where you can wear sweaters at night. New England, I am still dreaming of you……

Til next time,
H